Lanzhou Greenchem ILs (Center for Greenchemistry and catalysis), LICP, CAS. Ionic Liquids

Unlike the other petrochemical companies, PetroChina have publicly announced a major process employing ionic liquids. The process, given the rather inharmonious name of Ionikylation, has been tested at pilot plant, and
retrofitted into an existing 65,000 tonne per year sulfuric acid alkylation unit in China. The chemistry, alkylation of isobutene, parallels early BP and IFP work, in that it occurs in a strongly Lewis acidic ionic liquid based on aluminium(III) chloride. The retrofit not only increased the yield of the process (compared to sulfuric acid), but increased the process units capacity by 40% (to 248 tonnes per day), with attractive economics. This is by far the largest commercial usage of ionic liquids reported to date, and is certainly a forerunner of other commercial petrochemical processes.

 

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